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  • main line
    main line
    noun
    a principal line or route of a railroad, as contrasted with a branch or secondary one.
  • Main Line
    Main Line
    noun
    a fashionable residential district west of Philadelphia.
Synonyms

main line

1 American  

noun

  1. a principal line or route of a railroad, as contrasted with a branch or secondary one.

  2. a principal highway.

  3. Slang.

    1. a prominent and readily accessible vein of the body that may be used for a narcotic's injection.

    2. the act of mainlining.

Main Line 2 American  

noun

  1. a fashionable residential district west of Philadelphia.

  2. any fashionable district where socially prominent people live.

main line British  

noun

  1. railways

    1. the trunk route between two points, usually fed by branch lines

    2. ( as modifier )

      a main-line station

  2. a main road

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. slang (intr) to inject a drug into a vein

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

  1. having an important position, esp having responsibility for the main areas of activity

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of main line

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Trials have been done using "ropeless creels" which have the main line in a container along with a buoy and these are lowered to the seabed with the creels.

From BBC • Mar. 6, 2025

The extensive corroborating evidence is just one way the prosecution is cutting off the defense’s main line of attack.

From Los Angeles Times • May 2, 2024

It said de-icing fluid would be applied to keep critical junctions open and "proactive changes" on the Highland main line had already protected remote junctions from signal failure.

From BBC • Jan. 15, 2024

Currently, the underground railway’s main line winds from northeastern China to southwestern Yunnan province and into Southeast Asia.

From Washington Times • Nov. 22, 2023

As we trundled back down the main line, I was thinking about all that I had seen.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.